The 1996 USA women’s national basketball team has gained immortality and Dawn Staley at least appreciates the timing.
UNCASVILLE—Dawn Staley might not have liked the way it was drawn up. But, like many a broken play under her watch, somehow it worked all the same.
Staley is becoming quite the real estate investor in Springfield, Massachusetts, as she has found another lot at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Class of 2013 inductee is back for a second helping of immortality as a member of the 1996 United States women’s national basketball team, which is being honored as a group this weekend and beyond.
The 1996 squad not only successfully defended home hardwood at the Atlanta Olympics but is widely credited with providing a launching pad for the WNBA, which began play just under a year after Staley, a future rep of the Charlotte Sting, donned her gold medal at the Georgia Dome.
Staley repped the ’96 squad when new inductees spoke at Mohegan Sun before their official coronation. The current South Carolina women’s basketball head coach wasn’t pleased that it took so long to gain such recognition but found serendipitous solace in the fact that the induction comes as the WNBA is celebrating its 30th season of action.
“Thirty years in the WNBA says a whole lot and I don’t know if we were nominated, meaning the ’96 team in year 30, for a reason,” Staley said. “But it sounds good. But I think we should have been in a little bit sooner than today or this weekend.”
The Mix of ’96
While the Olympics have hosted women’s basketball since the 1976 Games in Montreal, there were implications beyond the rings when the sixth such tournament was staged in Atlanta.
These Olympics were taking place not only before the debut of the W but also the American Basketball League, which was set to give women’s basketball players well-funded domestic options for the first time.
The Games were thus a test of hardwood viability, a push for proof of a good investment that continues to be restocked in the modern day. Staley made sure that all those who made the initial ventures were recognized, even if they weren’t on the floor.
“I think sometimes, in our history, we don’t really reach back. I think our ’96 team was a team full of players that really understood the assignment and understood who was a part of getting us to that place. The Lynette Woodards, Nancy Liebermans, all of them really paved the way for us to strike when the iron was hot. It wasn’t the hottest, it looks like that now.
“How it turned out and who I’m going in with means the world to me, all of them. We are sisters that are joined by hard work and success, and sometimes that’s not often rewarded. But this is great that we’re being rewarded in this way.”
It seems unfathomable in this age, but the women’s team was also seeking its own form of redemption: it was perhaps buried by the dominance of the Dream Team, but the women’s group won but a bronze in the prior Olympics in Barcelona, ousted by the Unified Team that consisted of former Soviet athletes.
Playing for purposes and conversations that would persist long after the Olympic flame would be extinguished, Staley and other early stars of the W (such as Jennifer Azzi, Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, and Sheryl Swoopes) made sure to leave no doubt, as they won their eight games by an average margin of just under 30. Things capped off with a 111-87 win over Brazil in the gold medal game, paced by respective 29-point and 10-assist outputs from Leslie and local heroine Teresa Edwards.
While the ABL lasted but three seasons, the rest is history: the W presses on in a third decade, its early days headlined by the work of the USA women’s club’s stars.
“I think what ’96 taught us is that what Tar put us through physically meant that our mental strength rolls with it, and when you are physically and mentally strong, you can pretty much do anything because you’re unafraid to fail,” Staley said. “When the two leagues, the ABL and the WNBA, were announced during that year, although we felt the pressure, we knew we couldn’t fail. We knew we couldn’t fail because of the preparation and the mental strength that we carry, it was very indicative of what women’s sports have had to go through in order for us to be a sport.”
I’m live from Basketball Hall of Fame induction availabilities today! Quotes to come pic.twitter.com/bKl3y3bext
— Geoff Magliocchetti (@GeoffJMags) August 14, 2026
Dawn of the W?
Staley wound up appearing in both the WNBA and ABL and is now set to chase a fourth national championship ring at the helm of the Gamecocks. She has attained undeniable icon status in Columbia but the name of the Philadelphia native will undoubtedly be attached to any form of employment with her beloved Eagles’ incoming sister squad whether she wants to or not.
Staley is happy to offer advice, such as copying what the billion-dollar-valued Golden State Valkyries have done, but don’t expect her to make the leap to the pros … again.
“Philly’s got to spend some money. Got to get a good president, GM, coach. They got to get a somebody attractive that’s close to Philly,” she noted. “I’m not pressing myself. I’m not bumping myself. I’m a feeler. I’ve got to feel it. Philly’s been great. My brother still lives there. [But] this is not a call for them to call me. It’s not. Just want y’all know that y’all are asking the questions.”
Though she’s not interested in joining the professional fray, Staley has kept up to date on the league’s current affairs, ones where the mainstream conversations seem to center on off-court activities rather than those in the box scores and on the highlight reels.
“I think we are in a really great place,” Staley said of the state of the league. “I’ve been asked questions about what’s happening in the WNBA, all the think pieces and all the things that are happening from a racial standpoint, from an officiating standpoint, are great. They’re great because the NBA went through it, all of it. So, this is just badges of honor.
“Will we get through it? We will get through it,” Staley firmly continued. “But we do have to step up and we got to catch up. We got to catch up to what’s happening and actually get the league back to what it is. It’s a great product. It’s an incredible product that we’re missing out on because we got distractions. Anytime there’s something great happening, there are always distractions placed in your life, and you got to be able to handle them to take that next step. It will take the next step.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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